Longitude #63

Editor's column

Cover story

Some have been predicting that doctors will be replaced by algorithms. Others suggest they will succumb to latter-day shamans. But medicine is currently flourishing thanks to a combination of holistic ideas and technological advances.

As biological research evolves, we are nearing the point where certains cells can be said to be immortal. And though we are still far from producing an immortal body, we must already come to terms with increased longevity.

Featured briefing

Things are coming apart quickly on the Old Continent. There are many reasons, and often the sources of one problem stem from the solution to a previous problem. Despite all this, Europe is heading toward a make-or-break moment in which it will be forced to act decisively.

Things are coming apart quickly on the Old Continent. There are many reasons, and often the sources of one problem stem from the solution to a previous problem. Despite all this, Europe is heading toward a make-or-break moment in which it will be forced to act decisively.

The fallout from Brexit has many pondering the fate of the EU. Absent any concrete European identity, the continent’s various peoples are falling back on national identities that appear to be assailed from all directions.

Middle East

The current approach to stabilizing Saudi Arabia’s power in the region is running up against many unexpected obstacles. As revenue from oil diminishes, the kingdom’s rulers need to assess the direction in which their country is heading.

Civil aviation

The geopolitics of civil aviation is shifting rapidly. Countries are forced to sacrifice long-subsidized national carriers in the face of free-market forces that are obliging airlines to unite and create scales of economy that can compete with new low-cost players.

Technology

Information in the digital age has changed us. The more we feed off our computer devices, the more our perceptions and modes of processing information change. We’ve become more opinionated, more viral, more indulgent of trash.

Warming bloopers

The crusade against GMOs has gotten out of hand. Despite volumes of scientific studies, Greenpeace insists on denouncing agricultural biotech innovations as unsafe. Unfortunately, the planet’s poorest will pay the highest price.

Talking heads

Brexit is one of those cases in which politics and money diverge completely and branch off, taking two very different paths. Contrary to all expectations, none of the catastrophic effects on the London Stock Exchange, derived from the choice of leaving the EU, materialized, except for the fall of the pound (highly predictable).

World money

To anyone who has repeatedly called for a renegotiation of EU rules, Brexit was no surprise. The shock, however, could offer Europe a chance to set things straight and make a stronger, more realistic Union.

Smart thinking

To enjoy the next big thing in the internet revolution, you don’t just sit and stare at your device. Rather, you hunt through a vast area of augmented reality, chasing figures superimposed onto your ordinary surroundings.

Chosen words

On February 10, 2007, Democratic Senator from Illinois Barack Obama announced his candidacy to become the first Black president of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield: a highly symbolic site because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic “House Divided” speech in 1858, about the problem of slavery and race in the US.